Cotton&#39;s patent and other straight bar knitting machine



Aug. 7, 1945. w. e. MACDONALD ETAL 81,072

COTTONS PATENTAND OTHER STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet; 1

Filed Feb. 14, 1944 I fiedam $01-10 W -WoL Q.

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Aug. 7, 1945. w. G. MACDONALD ET AL 2,381,072

GOTTON'S PATENT AND OTHER STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed, Feb. 14, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 7 1945. W. G. MACDONALD ETAL 2,381,072

COTTON'S PATENT AND OTHER STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Feb. 1.4, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 mmmaag ur 1411M m d dlnventora J Aug. 7, 1945. w. G. MACDONALD ETAL 2,381,072

COTTON'S PATENT AND OTHER STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 -Filed Feb; 14, 1944 wwceumWc- Aug. 7, 1945. w. G. MACDONALD ETAL 2,381,072

COTTONS PATENT AND OTHER STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINES 'Filed Feb; 14, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 2 q L I I L] g n I "Patented Aug. 7, 1945- NT" OFFICE.

COTTONS PATENT AND STRAIGHT BAR KNIT'HNGMACHINE William Gordon Macdonald and William Arthur" Cooper, Loughborougli,

William Cotton land Application land, assignors to lied, Loughborough, Eng- February 14, 1914, Serial NIL. 522,329 In Great Britain July 9, 1943 Claims. (01. 66-149) This invention concerns Cotton's Patent and other straight bar knitting machines adapted for the production of welted fabric, and particularly those machines equipped with automatic welt turning apparatus. In the production of welted fabric the fabric is initially drawn away from the needles by a 'welt bar equipped with weltlng instruments. A welt rod is then placed onthe fabric, fabric take-up straps are connected to the ends of the welt rod, and the initial course of the welt fabric is returned .to the needles over the top of the welt rod byisuitable movement of the welt ban The welt fabric therefore forms a loop in the bight of which the welt rod lies. The present invention provides mechanism for lowering the welt rod on to the fabric at the appropriate time. According to this invention in a Cotton's Patent or other straight bar knitting machine for the production of welted fabric, there are provided spaced supports for a welt rod,'and means for lowering said supports, from an upper position in which they are adapted to receive and support the welt rod above the fabric, thereby to lower the welt rod on to the fabric, and for raising said supports to the upper position. Specifically, there may be operating" means for :moving said supports, comprising a member movable into the path of the draw bar. draw lever or like part of the drawmechanism, that moves to and fro (e. g. reciprocates or oscillates), so as to bejdisplaced thereby; and a connection between said member and the'supports whereby displacement of said member results in movement of said supports, pattern contrdlled means for moving said member into said path and out 'of it after said displacement, and forlocklng the said member in displaced position for a predetermined plurality of draws. By -'5pattern-controlled means is mearit means controlled by ,a patterning device such as a chain, pattern drum, cam disc, or the like.

These and other features of the invention are incorporated in theconstruction which will now be described as an example, as applied to a Cottons Patent knitting machine adapted-for the production of welted fabric. with reference to the accompanying drawings which. show the relevant parts of the machine" (omitting the automatic welt turning apparatus, which of it- Figure 2 is a frontelet'atlon of the upper part ofthe mechanism. and Figure. 3 is a rear elevation of the left hand portion and Figure 3A of the right hand portion,

of the lower part of the mechanism.

, In a Cottons Patent knitting machine adapted for the production of full fashioned stocking blanks and provided with automatic welt turning mechanism, at each end of each division of needles (such as the division I in Fig. 2) ther is a vertical plunger. ll carrying a cross bar 12. In the case of plungers Ii located between successive divisions eachend of the cross bar is turned down as shown at, the left'hand side of Fig. 2, while in the case of plungers located beyond the end divisions only one end 7 of the said cross bar is turned down as shown horizontally away from th needles, the dis- Self forms no part oi the invention) and in,

which Figures 1 and lAshow across section through the machine and mechanism according to this invention? I l tance between the hooks beinggreater than the width oi the division. A leaf spring l5 attached to each turned-down portion bears against the adjacent'end of the rod it so that th rod is. located endwise between said springs it Each plunger ii is cut with a rack of teeth and the racks are engaged by pinions ill on a common horizontal shaft N that is rotatable to raise and lower the plungers H by mechanism hereinafter described.

When th plungers H are in the upper lnoper ative position the welt rods It may be inserted in the supports l3 and remain there until re quired. At the appropriate stage in the welting operations th plungers It are lowered so that'the welt rods it descend onto the fabric. A- hook ill on a take -up strap 20 is thereupon connected to each end of the vwelt rod lt and the welt rod drawn forward out ofitssdpport by a pair of such straps 20. To effect this conmotion the welt rod may be lowered by the plungers ll into a position whereat the hooks l9 automatically engage the rod when the take 01!- rollei 20a is partlyrotated by hand. If deis an upper guide 2| (extending horizontally forwards), beneath which the ends of the welt ll aredrawnby said hooks and by them guided-beneath the path of the welt bar 23 for which suitable horizontal guides 24 are provided. When the welt rods l4 have been drawn from their supports the plungers ii are again raised to the inoperative position.

The descent of the plungers ll needs to be so -timed that the welt rods l4 are lowered to the fabric at the appropriate stage in the production of the welt, For this purpose one end of a chain 28 is anchored to a flanged wheel 28 on the aforesaid pinion shaft l8. One end of a further chain 23a is anchored to a second flanged wheel 26a. The other endof the chain 23' is connected to a tension spring 21 exerting a pull in a direction tending to lower the piungers i I. 'The other end of chain a is connected to one end of a lever 28 which is pivoted intermediate its ends at 29 and at the'other end has a truck 33 so that when the truck is raised the lever 28 is rocked to cause the plungers Ii to rise. The rocking of the lever 28 is effected by an upwardly inclined ramp 3| on a rod 32 that extends horizontally at the back of the machine, said rod 32 being movable endwise to force the ramp 3l-beneath the truck or to remove it therefrom. This endwise movement is derived from the reciprocating draw bar 33. For this purpose there is a shaft 34 parallelwith the rod 32. the said shaft 34 having a fork 35 rotatably mounted on but restrained against axial movement along it, the said fork 33 engaging between two abutments 38,31 on the rod so that the shaft 34 may be rotated but when moved endwise moves the rod 32 with it. The said shaft 34 is further provided with a-proiection 38- which. when the shaft is rotated, is brought into and out of the path of the end of the draw bar 33. Thus when the projection 38 is rotated into the said pathit is struck by the end of the draw bar 33, the rod 32 and the shaft 34. are moved sideways, and the lever 28 is rocked by ramp 3| to raise the plungers ll. Since it is not desired that the pro- Jection as shall be repeatedly struck by the'end of the draw bar 33 immediately this displacement has been effected, the shaft 34 isthe'n rotated to remove the projection 38 from the draw bar-path. These movements of the projection into and out of said path are determined by pattern-controlled mechanism.

.This mechanism comprises a horizontal cam shaft 33 at the .rear of the machine carrying a plurality of cams which time the automatic movements involved in welt turning. There is one cam 48 provided on its periphery with a suitable rise (not shown) which is adapted to engage and rock a bell-crank-lever 4 [that is connected to the; shaft 34 by a link 42 sli'dably engaging a horizontal pivot pin 43 on an arm 44 projecting from said shaft-34. Thus when the rise is presented tothebell-crank-lever 4| the shaft 34 is rocked to move the projection 38 into the path ofthe draw bar 33 (so that the ascent of the plungers II is pattern-controlled) and immediately the rise is removed from the bell-crank lever 4! the latter is returned by a spring 45 and the shaft 34 is rocked, to carry the proiection'38 out of said w A suitable spring 48 is provided for returning the rod 32 and shaft 34 in the opposite direction to that inwhich they are displaced by the draw bar 33 and for thereby removing the rise 3| from beneath'the truck 30 so as to permit the aforesaid tension spring 21 to lower the welt rods I4. It is necessary to lock the rod 32 in the displaced position (wherein the plungers II are held Jaised) for aprcdetermined period and torelease it for movement by'the return spring 48 (so that the plungers are lowered) at a predetermined stage in the welt-forming operations of the machine. Therefore pattern-controlled lockin mechanism is provided for locking the rod 32 in its displaced position. For this purpose there is a frusto-conical cam 41 on the shaft 34 and a co-operating bell-cranlr-lever 48 adapted to be rocked against the action of a spring 43 by a further cam 58 on the cam shaft 39. Before the displacement of the rod 32 and shaft 34 by the draw bar, the bell-crank-lever 48 co-operates with the plain part of the cam periphery. As the shaft 34 is displaced the cam 41 pushes past the end of the bell-crank-lever 48 and the latter springs in behind the big end of the frustoconical cam and locks the shaft and rod against return. When a rise (not shown) on the secondmentioned cam engages the bell-crank-lever 48 the latter is rocked to disengage from behind the bi end of the cam 41 so that the shaft and rod may be returned by the aforesaid return spring and the plungers ll thereby lowered.

If desired there may be a finger grip or handle fixed to the shaft l8 in such manner that if the rod i4 is not lowered sufficiently by the spring 21 to be engaged by the hooks l8 the shaft may be partlyrotated by the finger grip to lower the rod l4 finally into such position.

We claim:

1. In a straight bar knitting machine for the production of welted fabric and having draw mechanism including a part that moves to-andfro, and a fabric take-up for connection to a welt rod; the combination of spaced supports for the ends of said welt rod which supports are movable between a raised position in which they support the rod above the fabric and a lower position in which the rod may be connected to the take-up and drawnthereby outof the supports, a member movable into the path of said part of the-draw mechanism so as to be displaced thereby. Dattem-controlled means for moving .said member into and out of said path, means biassing said member against displacement by said part, a connection between said member and the welt rod supports for raising said supports when said member is displaced by said part and for ,lowering them under the influence of'the bias,

and pattern-controlled locking mechanism for locking said member in the. displaced position and for releasing it at a predetermined stage in the operation of the machine. 1 v

2. hi a straight bar, knittlng'machine for the production of welted fabric and having draw mechanism including a part that moves to and fro, and spaced supports for the reception of a welt rod above the. fabric, said supports being movable from an 'upper position in which they are adapted to receive and su'pportthe welt rod above the fabric, thereby to lower the rod into the-fabric and subsequently back into the upper position; operating means, for moving said supports, comprising a member movable into the path of said part of the draw mechanism so as to be displacedthereby, a connection between said displacement. t

anism for holding said member in the displaced position against the action of the bias.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2, comprising a slidable shaft, a projection thereon for engagement by said part to displace the part, connections in the pattern-controlled means for swin ing the projection into and out of the path -01 said part, and a connection between the shaft and the supports for moving the latter.

5. In a straight bar knitting machine for the production of welted fabric and having draw mechanism including a part that moves to and fro, and spaced supports for the reception of a. welt rod above the fabric, said supports being movable from an upper position in which they are adapted to receive and support the welt rod WILLIAM GORDON MACDONALD. WILLIAM ARTHUR COOPER. 

